I'm on my second course of Accutane and the results are just as good, if not better than the first for me.

I'm sure others have had success as well.

Have you tried looking into hormonal means such as BCP or Spiro. That would be my suggestion before taking accutane a 2nd time. I did it 3 times and my acne is still here.

I found the second course harder, but I suspect that is because I was ten years older (1st course at 25, second at 35). So far my results have been just as good, but I have only been off meds for a few weeks, so we'll see!

Best of luck with your choice.

Thanks everyone. It is definitely reaffirming to read that you are having success with your second courses and I am truly delighted for you. I just get the jitters before I start this drug I guess because of all the things that could go wrong.

I'm also dreading the dry skin because I recently moved to an extremely dry climate... we'll see. =/

Alas, I am celibate and I do not believe in taking hormonal birth control, it freaks me out. Otherwise I would absolutely look into that before going for a second round. Acne blooowwwss.

hey man just looking for some advice! i took accutane 20mg a day for 12 months and my face was completely clear at the end of the treatment, just had some PIH ive been on it 6 weeks and my forehead has like 50 little bumps which are itchy, and i have little whiteheads appearing on my cheeks. should i consider a second course?

I took my first accutane course last year from May to October. Skin was perfectly clear until about April when the acne returned and I was unsuccessful in using normal topical treatments to control it. I'm currently on my second course, have been on it for 7 weeks and currently going through an initial breakout. I do think a second course is worth it. For some reason my form gave me a lower dose this time which is prolonging the initial breakout but from what I've heard its all about the cumulative accutane dose rather than how much you take per day or per week.

hey man just looking for some advice! i took accutane 20mg a day for 12 months and my face was completely clear at the end of the treatment, just had some PIH ive been on it 6 weeks and my forehead has like 50 little bumps which are itchy, and i have little whiteheads appearing on my cheeks. should i consider a second course?

Try controlling the acne with normal treatment. Otherwise yes go for another course.

I took my first accutane course last year from May to October. Skin was perfectly clear until about April when the acne returned and I was unsuccessful in using normal topical treatments to control it. I'm currently on my second course, have been on it for 7 weeks and currently going through an initial breakout. I do think a second course is worth it. For some reason my form gave me a lower dose this time which is prolonging the initial breakout but from what I've heard its all about the cumulative accutane dose rather than how much you take per day or per week.

Interesting, it sounds like we had similar experiences. The IB stinks and I am not looking forward to it either but hang in there because you know it's not forever. Hopefully we both have a more successful experience this time around - I'll be starting in about a week, and would love to know how it continues to go for you. Fingers crossed =)

hey man just looking for some advice! i took accutane 20mg a day for 12 months and my face was completely clear at the end of the treatment, just had some PIH ive been on it 6 weeks and my forehead has like 50 little bumps which are itchy, and i have little whiteheads appearing on my cheeks. should i consider a second course?

I think it would be helpful to consult with your derm and them know/see what is going on and see if they have any suggestions as to how you can treat it, topical ointment-wise. There is a 6 month waiting period that you must adhere to before you can get on another round of Accutane. But if you try and try for the 6 months and your acne still persists (which is exactly what happened to me) then I think it could be worth giving a second shot. I am kind of shocked to hear your course was a year long. That's very abnormal... Perhaps a higher dosage might be helpful too since derms typically shoot for the 5/6 month mark.

Mild exfoliation is very helpful -- L'oreal has a fantastic little rubber brush with their 360 face wash that gets in your pores to clean them out. I would NOT recommend using the L'oreal face wash, just the brush with a face wash like the Vanicream facial bar (3$ Walgreens), or Burt's Bees face wash for sensitive skin (7-8$ Walmart/Target/ULTA), because post-Accutane skin is still very sensitive.

Drinking a lot of water is THE most helpful thing you can do. If you're serious about your skin getting healthy, you need to be drinking at least one glass of water every hour, but even more than that is good.

I don't know that vitamins help, but they don't hurt. I would suggest vitamin A, Flax seed oil, Papaya enzymes, Probiotics, and Vitamin D.

And lastly, you must moisturize after you wash your face. I love Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion (with the dark green ring around the pump). You can get a big bottle pretty much anywhere for about 10$ and the ingredients are very skin-friendly, it helps calm redness, and really does a good job of moisturizing.

All you can do is try to address the issues you have going on right now. If you take a multi-angled approach, it may not cure your acne, but it will at least tone it down and make it more tolerable. I wish you luck and get ahold of your derm ASAP!!

I took my first accutane course last year from May to October. Skin was perfectly clear until about April when the acne returned and I was unsuccessful in using normal topical treatments to control it. I'm currently on my second course, have been on it for 7 weeks and currently going through an initial breakout. I do think a second course is worth it. For some reason my form gave me a lower dose this time which is prolonging the initial breakout but from what I've heard its all about the cumulative accutane dose rather than how much you take per day or per week.

Interesting, it sounds like we had similar experiences. The IB stinks and I am not looking forward to it either but hang in there because you know it's not forever. Hopefully we both have a more successful experience this time around - I'll be starting in about a week, and would love to know how it continues to go for you. Fingers crossed =)

9 weeks in: finally some significant clearing! Still on 20mg a day. Large cysts have shrivelled up and could be gone in a week or two b

😀

hey man just looking for some advice! i took accutane 20mg a day for 12 months and my face was completely clear at the end of the treatment, just had some PIH ive been on it 6 weeks and my forehead has like 50 little bumps which are itchy, and i have little whiteheads appearing on my cheeks. should i consider a second course?

I think it would be helpful to consult with your derm and them know/see what is going on and see if they have any suggestions as to how you can treat it, topical ointment-wise. There is a 6 month waiting period that you must adhere to before you can get on another round of Accutane. But if you try and try for the 6 months and your acne still persists (which is exactly what happened to me) then I think it could be worth giving a second shot. I am kind of shocked to hear your course was a year long. That's very abnormal... Perhaps a higher dosage might be helpful too since derms typically shoot for the 5/6 month mark.

Mild exfoliation is very helpful -- L'oreal has a fantastic little rubber brush with their 360 face wash that gets in your pores to clean them out. I would NOT recommend using the L'oreal face wash, just the brush with a face wash like the Vanicream facial bar (3$ Walgreens), or Burt's Bees face wash for sensitive skin (7-8$ Walmart/Target/ULTA), because post-Accutane skin is still very sensitive.

Drinking a lot of water is THE most helpful thing you can do. If you're serious about your skin getting healthy, you need to be drinking at least one glass of water every hour, but even more than that is good.

I don't know that vitamins help, but they don't hurt. I would suggest vitamin A, Flax seed oil, Papaya enzymes, Probiotics, and Vitamin D.

And lastly, you must moisturize after you wash your face. I love Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion (with the dark green ring around the pump). You can get a big bottle pretty much anywhere for about 10$ and the ingredients are very skin-friendly, it helps calm redness, and really does a good job of moisturizing.

All you can do is try to address the issues you have going on right now. If you take a multi-angled approach, it may not cure your acne, but it will at least tone it down and make it more tolerable. I wish you luck and get ahold of your derm ASAP!!

Hello, thanks for the reply! i saw my derm 2 days ago and she was persistant in saying that my skin was perfect. but you can only really tell whats going on if its your skin, ive noticed it getting increasingly oiler day after day and i explained this and my concern. She said a second course is unnecesary, but she put me on something called Retrieval which is a exactly the same as Retin-a. Ive used it for the past 2 days at night, and i think i'm experiencing an initial breakout of some sort.

Im keeping positive, and am going to continue to use retrieval with high hopes 🙂

I took my first accutane course last year from May to October. Skin was perfectly clear until about April when the acne returned and I was unsuccessful in using normal topical treatments to control it. I'm currently on my second course, have been on it for 7 weeks and currently going through an initial breakout. I do think a second course is worth it. For some reason my form gave me a lower dose this time which is prolonging the initial breakout but from what I've heard its all about the cumulative accutane dose rather than how much you take per day or per week.

Interesting, it sounds like we had similar experiences. The IB stinks and I am not looking forward to it either but hang in there because you know it's not forever. Hopefully we both have a more successful experience this time around - I'll be starting in about a week, and would love to know how it continues to go for you. Fingers crossed =)

9 weeks in: finally some significant clearing! Still on 20mg a day. Large cysts have shrivelled up and could be gone in a week or two b

 

AMAZING! Such progress for not even being really far into your course - could be a great sign. Thanks for the update, it's so nice to hear people take that turn and go on the upswing. I'm now on day 3 and already getting the IB blues. I forgot how much this part sucks. Just gotta power through it though, life goes on and fortunately I only have a short shift at work tomorrow haha.

hey man just looking for some advice! i took accutane 20mg a day for 12 months and my face was completely clear at the end of the treatment, just had some PIH ive been on it 6 weeks and my forehead has like 50 little bumps which are itchy, and i have little whiteheads appearing on my cheeks. should i consider a second course?

I think it would be helpful to consult with your derm and them know/see what is going on and see if they have any suggestions as to how you can treat it, topical ointment-wise. There is a 6 month waiting period that you must adhere to before you can get on another round of Accutane. But if you try and try for the 6 months and your acne still persists (which is exactly what happened to me) then I think it could be worth giving a second shot. I am kind of shocked to hear your course was a year long. That's very abnormal... Perhaps a higher dosage might be helpful too since derms typically shoot for the 5/6 month mark.

Mild exfoliation is very helpful -- L'oreal has a fantastic little rubber brush with their 360 face wash that gets in your pores to clean them out. I would NOT recommend using the L'oreal face wash, just the brush with a face wash like the Vanicream facial bar (3$ Walgreens), or Burt's Bees face wash for sensitive skin (7-8$ Walmart/Target/ULTA), because post-Accutane skin is still very sensitive.

Drinking a lot of water is THE most helpful thing you can do. If you're serious about your skin getting healthy, you need to be drinking at least one glass of water every hour, but even more than that is good.

I don't know that vitamins help, but they don't hurt. I would suggest vitamin A, Flax seed oil, Papaya enzymes, Probiotics, and Vitamin D.

And lastly, you must moisturize after you wash your face. I love Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion (with the dark green ring around the pump). You can get a big bottle pretty much anywhere for about 10$ and the ingredients are very skin-friendly, it helps calm redness, and really does a good job of moisturizing.

All you can do is try to address the issues you have going on right now. If you take a multi-angled approach, it may not cure your acne, but it will at least tone it down and make it more tolerable. I wish you luck and get ahold of your derm ASAP!!

Hello, thanks for the reply! i saw my derm 2 days ago and she was persistant in saying that my skin was perfect. but you can only really tell whats going on if its your skin, ive noticed it getting increasingly oiler day after day and i explained this and my concern. She said a second course is unnecesary, but she put me on something called Retrieval which is a exactly the same as Retin-a. Ive used it for the past 2 days at night, and i think i'm experiencing an initial breakout of some sort.

Im keeping positive, and am going to continue to use retrieval with high hopes

Good to hear! Fingers crossed your new medicine will do the trick so you won't have to get on another course. However, if you feel it's not working and another course is something you would really like, but your current derm won't give to you, I would really really suggest switching to a derm who will. You being happy and comfortable in your own skin is the main goal here. Time will tell but I hope you find relief soon either way.

I took my first accutane course last year from May to October. Skin was perfectly clear until about April when the acne returned and I was unsuccessful in using normal topical treatments to control it. I'm currently on my second course, have been on it for 7 weeks and currently going through an initial breakout. I do think a second course is worth it. For some reason my form gave me a lower dose this time which is prolonging the initial breakout but from what I've heard its all about the cumulative accutane dose rather than how much you take per day or per week.

Interesting, it sounds like we had similar experiences. The IB stinks and I am not looking forward to it either but hang in there because you know it's not forever. Hopefully we both have a more successful experience this time around - I'll be starting in about a week, and would love to know how it continues to go for you. Fingers crossed =)

9 weeks in: finally some significant clearing! Still on 20mg a day. Large cysts have shrivelled up and could be gone in a week or two b

 

AMAZING! Such progress for not even being really far into your course - could be a great sign. Thanks for the update, it's so nice to hear people take that turn and go on the upswing. I'm now on day 3 and already getting the IB blues. I forgot how much this part sucks. Just gotta power through it though, life goes on and fortunately I only have a short shift at work tomorrow haha.

It's kind of a relief to be on accutane when you're in the middle of an acne war hey? It's like having a powerful weapon on your side.

Ah, the IB sucks. Mine lasted 9 weeks! It's kind of ended now but today i got one new giant pimple right on the edge of my jawbone. At least it wasn't in the middle of my forehead LOL.

Patience 🙂 Let me know of your progress too.